10/2017. Launch of our new Strategic Plan 2017-2021

The 5-year plan was launched on 22nd September 2017 in the presence of PELUM Uganda members, partners, Country Board members and staff. The Strategic Plan was officially launched by Dr. Kennedy Igbokwe, the Project Manager, climate change and resilience at FAO who also served as the guest of honor.

PELUM Uganda’s new plan will be implemented under the theme, “Nurturing our agro-ecosystems to guarantee sustainable food systems”. Within the next years, we want to see “Communities in Uganda sustainably utilizing their natural resources”(Vision). We will contribute to this through,“enhancing the effectiveness of members in promoting ecological land use management among farming communities through capacity building, research and innovation, networking and advocacy”(Mission).

The plan has 4 Domains of Change and Strategic Objectives as indicated below

Domains of Change

Strategic Objective

Programmes and services

PELUM Uganda with programmes and services that strengthen member’s capacities to build resilience of farming communities in the period 2017-2021.

2. Partnerships and working relations

PELUM Uganda with relevant and effective working partnerships and relations in the period 2017-2021.

Organisational functioning

PELUM Uganda functioning efficiently and effectively as an organisation in the period 2017-2021.

Financing

PELUM Uganda with adequate financing for planned undertakings in the period 2017-2021

During the launch, some members and farmers shared about how they have benefited from PELUM Uganda’s work in the past and their hope for continued impact in the coming years. ” I am a 77 year old retired civil servant and smallholder farmer. I have been working with PELUM Uganda and IIRR since 2011. They have given me a lot of trainings in simple water harvesting technologies, good farming practices…. After one training at St. Jude in Masaka, I went back home, dug a pit, put a polythne and started harvesting water… I am now a model farmer in my area. I train my neighbors such as students from Bobi training polytechnic in good farming practices. I am old but I am making a lot of money. I encourage all of you to work hard but also visit my farm so that we can share experiences,” commented Mr. Okello, a farmer from Gulu district.

The PELUM Uganda country secretariat team also shared about the 3 models developed, piloted and out-scaled among members and partners. These models include; the Climate Resilient Agro Ecosystems Model (CRAEM), the Community Managed Seed Security Model (CMSSM) and the Pesa Agro marketing model. They also shared about the Gender Action Learning System (GALS) methodology that PELUM Uganda has been out-scaling in partnership with Oxfam in Uganda and other organisations

In his speech, the Guest of Honor, Dr. Igbokwe appreciated PELUM Uganda for the 5 models presented and committed to work with the country secretariat team to further scale them out. “Although each model can work on its own, they could work best when integrated together within a particular context. I commit to see how to scale-out the models within FAO,” he commented